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Some Unexpected Turbulence

Oct 1, 2009

If you're like most people, the only time you ever think about turbulence is when you're 10,000 ft. in the air. And like most people, you probably encounter turbulence much more often than you think—while pouring milk into cereal, driving to work and even breathing.

Until recently, little was known about the movement of turbulent particles. Because they are so small and move so fast, scientific understanding has been limited to Richardson-Obukhov law and a formula by George Batchelor—mathematical theories based on assumptions and predictions. Thanks to researchers at the Max Plank Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Gottingen, Germany, turbulence is now a bit more clear. Using three high-speed cameras and a very bright laser, they mapped the movement of microscopic particles, recording the distance between them more than 25,000 times a second. Batchelor's predictions on particle movement, it turns out, were nearly perfect for just about all turbulent flows on Earth.

The new information on particle movement translates across the scientific spectrum in terms of usefulness—from better understanding of milkshakes to determining how atmospheric ozone is depleted.—Adam Raymond

Particles in turbulence. The small spheres are a visualization of every other picture taken by a high-speed camera--one picture every 74 microseconds.

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